DeAndre Daniels

[Masterofreality]

Let me lead off the post by quoting the story that just came out:


"DeAndre Daniels, a highly-touted and versatile 2011 forward out of IMG Academy, has made an oral committment to attend UConn, IMG announced Tuesday. Daniels becomes the 10th and final member of the 2011-12 Huskies.

Daniels, who had withdrawn from a committment he made to Texas last year, was recruited by many elite programs, including Kansas, Duke, Florida and Tennessee. The Huskies heated up their recruitment of Daniels during their run to the Final Four, but it was said to have cooled about six weeks ago. Apparently, UConn made a late push to land the 6-8 forward, originally from Woodland Hills, Calif."

So what is the big deal? Well, Daniels has been at IMG Academy. It just so happens that IMG College paid UConn $80 million a couple of years ago for marketing and media promotion rights. Hmmm.

I'm sure there is no connection, though, just like there was no connection between Kyryl going to IMG Academy, then winding up at Arizona- a couple of weeks after IMG College got their rights and the desert raccoon went there- part of whose bumped salary was paid by IMG. :rolleyes:

[smileyy]

Shouldn't pay-for-play work the other way around? I'm confused as to how UConn benefits in some sort of improper way.

[Masterofreality]

Shouldn't pay-for-play work the other way around? I'm confused as to how UConn benefits in some sort of improper way.

Oh, I don't know. IMG pays $80 mill for rights. They get a guy to go there to make the product that IMG markets better, then IMG can charge more for ads, merch, station broadcast network rights, etc. producing a bigger payday for IMG to pay back their $80mil quicker?

NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!:rolleyes:

[smileyy]

I mean it's weird, but I'm not seeing how it contributes to UConn being better than other schools in ways that those schools can't compete with.

[Masterofreality]

I mean it's weird, but I'm not seeing how it contributes to UConn being better than other schools in ways that those schools can't compete with.

Well,

IMG College feeding $80 mil to Uconn that "other schools" don't necessarily get, then IMG Academy feeding players to said school that "other schools" don't necessarily get. Sounds like one helluva contribution to me- and the feeding of IMG's own beast via a huge conflict of corporate interest.

"Better players, better program....Papa Jim's"

And....tell me how with IMG College paying a portion of the desert raccoon's salary at Arizona, also then paying AZ a princely sum for their marketing, it is not a conflict of interest when IMG Academy feeds players there?

Somehow, I can't see Learfield establishing an "Academy" any time soon that would be able to feed players to Xavier. Like most NCAA schools, Xavier has to recruit the old fashioned way.

IMG is a marketing company, but the establishment of an "academy" to primarily work with promising athletes and then be active in feeding them to IMG connected schools is a clear conflict of interest and potentially unethical. While there was a loud outcry over some of the "prep schools" such as Celestial Academy in Philadelphia, I have no idea why there is no similar outcry over this- other than that the non-IMG schools don't want to piss off Sasquatch.

[HuskyMuskie]

How do people NOT understand that this is a conflict of interest?

[smileyy]

But the only reason UConn would need to be paid to take a player would be if that player wasn't good enough to play there. I'd think we'd want that. I'm sure UConn is horrified at the prospect of a supporter paying them large sums of money, and that supporter also suggesting that a top-10 player choose that school.

There's no "quid pro quo" here...there's just "quid pro quid"...as in "I'll give you something...and then I'll give you something else, too."

Unethical is UConn paying IMG Academy to have its talent commit to UConn.